Blog: If we keep searching the answers will come 🤓🔎

Almost four weeks ago since my last health update. Well to give the readers a quick update those four weeks were a rollercoaster ride again… Things are still getting better I assume, but the road never goes straight up, it has always some ups and downs.

What happened during those weeks?

That Thursday after my visit to the chiropractor I started swimming again and I think it helped me a bit. Well actually I can’t call it swimming it is more floating in the water and make my arms and legs do some movements. Can’t imagine in just a few weeks I’ve lost that many of my physical condition. First training I did 4 lanes and needed to stop to take a breath. The swimming totally didn’t feel any natural anymore.. It was like there was a giant balloon filled with air in the left part of my chest. I had the feeling I needed to compensate this and level myself but that wasn’t the solution. Another strange thing totally out of energy and need to take a breath after a few lanes. Except when I push myself away from the wall and just keep going under water I don’t have any problem at all to stay under until I start to move arms and legs again. So my lung capacity seems to be normal.. That night after 1 hour I had reached 40 lanes (approx. 1 km) while normally I train distances like 2.5 till 3 km in an hour.

Second training in the pool that next Tuesday went a lot better. Still had the strange balloon feeling in my left chest but I could handle series around 10 lanes already instead of four. Yeah! That night I reached 60 lanes and I was totally wasted. But what an improvement!

Sunset new style

Beach at my place

The greatest gift

That Wednesday I went to the Chiropractor again, but to bad no further improvements in my muscles. So he did a few things again and advised me to grab my bike again although I passed out again just recently. But he thought swimming would go a lot better combined with the bike rides.

That night my girlfriend already came over for the weekend. Big hooray yeah! She took some free days to take care of me for a longer period than a normal weekend and to bring me to the hospital. We were lucky with the weather the first days. She went out for some bigger bike rides while I was doing my half day of work so we could spent the remaining time together. Cooking and laughing a bit together and driving me around to the pool. So my dad has a night off! The swimming didn’t get any better after my treatment yesterday but I managed to get the same distance as last Tuesday but now with even one round of 20 lanes.

Sunset

We even have waterfalls at my place 😍

Friday was hospital day, I got to see a Cardiologist and they did some tests with me. They created for example an electrocardiogram (ECG) from my heart. The Cardiologist didn’t see any weird things and he suspected but he wanted to do some more tests. So next week on Friday and the week after on Monday I got some hospital days again.

That Friday night my “weekend” started and the original plan was to make pancakes because of it being Pancakeday. But it was perfect sunny weather and my girlfriend always ran out of luck for a decent sunset seeing at one of the beaches we have here. We choose the beach with the best view towards the sunset direction. Well guess what she got unlucky again… While driving towards the beach there was a fog rolling in from the ocean. Unbelievable isn’t it? But instead of pancakes we had our takeaway with fries and snacks before we would start our walk over the beach. Sunset or not we will enjoy our beach time together! @Detlev sorry that I wasn’t able to attend the meetup that night. I did hear it was great fun by the stories from @soyrosa and @brittandjosie. Hopefully I'l make it to the next one! 👍

Sunset new style (works better with straight lines)

Shooting some birds

That Saturday we went out to enjoy the fact that I could ride the bike a bit again. Only at the end I can conclude we have been a bit to enthusiastic. I was wasted for the rest of the weekend. My girlfriend left for that Sunday and I’ve been sleeping the whole afternoon in the sun… 😴

Few days later on the Wednesday I went to the Chiropractor again, and this time he did a great job. I left after his session and didn’t feel any pressure or pain in my chest for the rest of the day, including the beginning of Thursday. But I think I did try to much or something because on Thursday evening while I was laying down on the couch everything started to rotate again in front of my eyes. So I thought it was better to skip swimming that night and went to bed early.

Day after I had to go to the hospital again for some tests. They created an echocardiogram, echo torax and all the other words I forgot (heart lungs veins etc.). Later that day I went to the general practioner to talk about the tests and the medicines I’m taking. So I could ask right away about what happened last night, if that would obstruct my progress on the bike, riding the car. He said that I still could try all those things.

So Saturday (and already a new weekend!?) my dad and I agreed to get out with my car and test my driving skills. Well luckily for me I didn’t got afraid since my accident. On forehand I was a bit afraid that I would have some flashbacks but nothing of it at all. But where driving normally is quite relaxing. I couldn’t relax during my first drive because I’m used to do most of the steering with my left arm. Every time I rotate the wheel the pain in the chest got horrible… So no relaxed long drives for me yet. I agreed with my dad, that when we go to the pool together, I will drive the car and he will be my car guard.

Sunday was a great day again, my girlfriend and her brother (and his girlfriend) came over to bring me to my favourite beach (or to see how I was doing?). YEAH! So we had a nice walk, but you must know my girlfriend is a bit longer than me (1cm or so) so normally I can keep up fine with her fast walking, and those last weeks she was holding in. But now she was walking together with her brother (same size) well they had to wait multiple times. This guy couldn’t catch up anymore. Damn can’t wait till the day arrives I’m running circles around everyone at the beach again.

Spring is in the air! Can you smell it?

Are you serious?

Sir, you can’t walk anymore!

Monday was hospital day again. I had to be there very early in the morning for a test with a bike. The test is about measuring the amount of air, heartrate, blood pressure but all is measured while I’m riding a hometrainer while the virtual mountain I’m climbing gets steeper and steeper. After a few minutes I wasn’t breathing normally anymore, but the doctor said you must ride till your legs barely can’t move the pedals anymore. During the test I had to give a signal when the pain in the chest did raise or lower a level. The end was there sooner than expected but the doctor congratulated me with my results. He said take a breath and lay down on the bed right next to the bike. Did you know you are the second best we have ever tested in this hospital!? Would you get a good feeling about that compliment? Well I did! While I was recovering he said he would ty to arrange he said he would try to arrange my meeting with the cardiologist in person instead of over the phone. So he asked me to sit down in the waiting room. After a few minutes he got outside running! He said Sir, Sir you’re not allowed to walk anymore! I will grab a wheelchair and bring you to the E.R.. But euhm I can walk sir it’s not that far? No please sit down! And there we go…

A new chapter to this adventure (can I call it an adventure? Because otherwise I’m missing out on a lot of adventures at the moment🤪), back to the E.R. with 12 people circling around my bed and no one had time to tell me what was going on. After a few hours and running dozens of tests they decided to tell me finally what happened and why they didn’t have the time to tell me everything. The cardiologist on duty at the E.G took the time to explain what they noticed during the test. During the test they measure the sinus from your heartbeat between two lines (top and bottom) and my sinus was reaching out between those lines during the times I told them my pain raised a level up. The cardiologist concluded there could be a heart attack happening so he wanted me on the monitor ASAP.

Not going to tell everything what happened during my stay in the hospital, but I got out and the cardiologist (another one) came to tell me that there could be found nothing wrong with my heart. But they didn’t find out what was causing my troubles. The only thing they did find, was during pain attacks my body releases a substance that is only created when your body is hyperventilating. Except they also measured my breath and there was no sign of hyperventilation at all… The cardiologist had some thoughts about this, but she couldn’t tell them to me because she wasn’t specialised in those things. She would mention them in the report to my general practioner.

Take a break

Well the best part of the hospital visits, they even prepared me for joining a dalmatian dog competition. Totally free! Can you tell the difference?

What report?

Well guess what, no report from my stay in the hospital. Only the first part while I was on the E.R. and why they wanted to monitor me. But from the monitoring part nothing only the date and time they released me from the hospital and the substance they found in my blood. My general practioner couldn’t believe this. She said look what we got returned sometimes from a hospital… I don’t envy her, pointing out a new direction for people with almost no information at all. So she choose for another bloodtest, wich I had last Friday. Need to wait till tomorrow for those results. But I hope they will find something. Today I had a CT Scan at the hospital. Now running a discussion with them because I have to wait another month till I get the results. But my healthcare insurance told me I need to get those results in two weeks maximum.

Back to the good things in life

Lucky me I had a lot of fun things last weeks as well! @Soyrosa came by for a visit. She is such a sweetheart! Had a great talk during the afternoon and in the end she did even cook a meal for me because my body decided that the world should start spinning around again. Sorry for that @soyrosa! Hope the bolussen did make up for it. It was really great to see you again, was already a while ago since your last meetup in Rotterdam.

Another sweet gesture was from a colleague at my customer. He is external just like me, but he came by to visit me and do some work together at my place. He had to drive 150km for it but he was there. During the work I took some naptime and we had a great lunch walk together. In the end a very productive day, and there is nothing better than face to face working on a project when you compare it with the Skype meetings.

What’s next?

Well this week I hope to hear something from the hospital regarding my scan results, and today I hope to get the results from my blood test. Next weekend Easter time, I’m looking forward to celebrate it with @smalltall and @dboontje, and enjoy a nice lunch at the parents from my girlfriend.

Photography still feels like I'm improving my skillset, and it's a good distraction for your thoughts running around in circles. Another good thing is the weather is getting better, so I got a lot of pretty sunsets to watch. 😍

See you next time!👋

Ps. Sorry for the long story... Think I could have posted an in between version. Didn’t look that long while typing a bit every now and then in my notes application on my phone.

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Wow what an ordeal! You seem to be recovering from your accident tho, hopefully you will be back to yourself n no time. Keep working hard at it and keep your faith. Luckily you have a great woman by your side. I wish you a speedy recovery. xox

Thanks for the compliment I had to say from my girlfriend. We just had the discussion last weekend, and we agreed that I'm improving bit by bit even though it doesn't always feel that way. Two steps forward and one step back... tomorrow another visit at the general practioner to look for other steps in the search for the solution. Next week I got the results from the CTscan. One day there will be a breakthrough, and they will find what it is! The only thing killing the mood sometimes a bit is all the waiting.... Just broke the optimistic mood last weekend and started searching on Google. Stopped the same night I started looking not getting better from the search results 😅

How is life in Canada going? Already had the weekendtrip? Just read your post about it. Am I allowed to keep on dreaming about Canada?😍

It's a rough journey to recovery for sure but it's all about the right attitude and taking the small wins as they come and appreciate the results of hard work and the little moment or victories. In some time, you will look back at the struggle and how far you've come and the new perspectives gained. Everything has something to teach us and we never truly know how strong we are until we have to face our toughest moments.

I have struggled with auto-immune disorder my whole life and that has always been my biggest fight. (things in the environment and certain foods causes my immune system to create anti-bodies against myself and my internal organs being attacked and damaged). I have never known a day pain free or healthy since birth and most likely wont live a long life and even regular daily activities can be hard and tiresome, I used to see it as a curse and that held me back and depressed for a long time. One day I woke up and realized I can complain and feel sorry for myself and waste my short life away or I can grab the bull by the horns and go full speed ahead. I learned that when my body couldn't go anymore, push it just a little more then take the needed rest and recovery! Some days I feel like giving up and quit fighting but then I convince myself to fight a little more.

You will learn to perhaps change your expectations and find new ways to enjoy the little precious things as motivation in anyway physically possible to keep pushing forward, someday you will be thankful for it. Hopefully you get your breakthrough to get you on the road to your full self again and good luck with that!

You can always dream about Canada and the Rockies, it's meant to tickle the imagination! I have to process the emotions and events of the weekend but I will soon be writing all about it bit by bit, we got to do and see quite a bit as usual,2 days went by fast but not a minute wasted!

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Hey @guchtere! I'm sending you a lot of good vibes! Get well soon! I read your story by @soyrosa blog and since I love bikes I come here to see who you are and your story... Be patient, be in the present moment, get well!